Artistry and Simplicity

At a dismal time of unadulterated virtuosity and product marketing, Michael Studer’s unique art is particularly comforting. Indifferent to trends, his piano and his music speak to the heart with candor and simplicity. Many performers, including some of the greatest, match themselves against the composer, attempting to impose and stage themselves. Michael Studer has chosen a different path. His sovereign mastery of his instrument allows for a freedom of expression and subtle musicality that lets the composer speak through him, as Dinu Lipatti did. “Content” with a repertoire less trodden, there are certain works that he is particularly fond of, and his love for these works is manifest in profound interpretations played with incomparable authenticity, musicality and finesse. His recording of Gaspard de la Nuit is a superlative example in this respect, reproduced here from one of his first LP recordings dated 1971...